JEDDAH, 10 December 2002 — Eight members of a Saudi family and their Indonesian maid were killed when their van collided with another car, as another six people died in a four-car pileup, according to press reports yesterday.
A Saudi man, his mother, wife, a sister-in-law and 13 children were traveling on the Riyadh-Taif Expressway when a saloon car hit them after its driver lost control following a tire burst.
Only two of them, including the head of the family who was driving the van, escaped unhurt.
Six passengers of the car, all of them Indians, were injured, in the Saturday night accident, Al-Riyadh newspaper said. But according to Al-Yaum daily, two persons — a woman and her daughter — in the car also died in the accident.
The paper said Red Crescent volunteers took the dead and injured to the nearby Afeef Hospital.
Al-Yaum said the family belonged to Al-Taraf village in Al-Ahsa region. The accident took place while they were returning from Makkah after performing Umrah.
The appalling accident took place while the village was preparing for a mass wedding, it said, adding that the event is likely to be postponed now.
Six people died and 12 others were hurt on the Ahsa-Dammam road in the Eastern Province when four cars collided, Al-Riyadh reported. Five Saudis, including four women, in one of the vehicles were killed.
Meanwhile, three passengers were killed and seven others injured in three separate accidents that took place in the Ahsa region on Sunday.
A car driven by a 17-year-old overturned on Ahsa-Qatar road, killing the 11-year-old brother of the driver and injuring three others.
A 21-year-old passenger died and four others were injured when two cars collided in Amran town. Wrong overtaking by one of the drivers caused the accident.
And a 40-year-old died when a car driven by a teenager ran over him in Al-Oyun town, Al-Watan daily reported.
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest rates of road accidents, according to the Communications Ministry. More than 35,000 people died and over 200,000 were injured in traffic accidents in the past 10 years.
